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CAB investigates Gilligan's secret fortune in Spain

THE Criminal Assets Bureau is investigating a secret fortune that gardai believe John Gilligan amassed in the south of Spain.

Police suspect that a pub in Alicante and up to 15 houses may have been bought with money Gilligan hoarded from his drugs empire. The Garda Bureau of Fraud Investigation and Spanish police are assisting in the inquiry.

Gilligan, who is serving a 20-year jail sentence for drug trafficking, is believed to have bought properties in Spain before and after his trial for the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin.

His wife, Geraldine, and their daughter, Tracey, are currently living on the Costa del Sol, and working at The Judges Chamber pub in Alicante, which was opened while Gilligan was imprisoned in Belmarsh and fighting extradition to Ireland.

Senior gardai believe his former associate, Liam Judge, bought land and built the pub at Gilligan’s request. Judge lived there and ran